SafeNet, Internet2 Team Up to Secure Digital Identities

Two organizations have teamed up to offer a multifactor authentication solution to colleges and universities. Security provider SafeNet and Internet2, a non-profit networking consortium, this week announced that they will be offering SafeNet smart cards and PKI hard tokens to member institutions through Internet2's Incommon federation.

Smart cards and PKI tokens provide users with secure, certificate-based access to resources stored on the campus network. The two-factor authentication devices enable researchers, faculty, students, and staff to access resources, with their cryptographic credentials, when working on multiple devices or from a shared machine.

"In today’s increasingly mobile environment, more students and researchers are accessing IT services and institutional information from a variety of devices and locations," said Jack Suess, chief information officer and vice president for information technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and chair of the InCommon Steering Committee, in a statement released this week by Internet2 and SafeNet. "At the same time, universities are under the gun to make certain that security is strong. Second-factor solutions are a proven approach to protecting the security of individual and university information."

Member institutions will receive a discount when purchasing the devices through InCommon.

InCommon, which serves US-based education and research organizations, maintains "a common framework of trust, including the US identity management trust federation for research and education, a community-driven Certificate Service, an Assurance Program for higher levels of trust, and a multifactor authentication program."

More information about the SafeNet-InCommon partnership is available at InCommon's Web site.

About the Author

Kanoe Namahoe is online editor for 1105 Media's Education Group. She can be reached at knamahoe@1105media.com.